Sarah nodded. “He spilled paint on some tickets and one of them tore. Randy only had glue on his hands because he was helping me.”
I reread the apology note. The letters were jagged. Some words were darker, as if he’d pressed too hard.
“He kept repeating, ‘My mom knows I’m not lying,'” Sarah said. “But Mrs. Bell said that sometimes even good boys disappoint their mothers.”
My fingers tightened around the paper.
My son died thinking I might believe he was bad.
“My mother knows I’m not lying.”
“So what happened?” I whispered.
Sarah pressed her small fist against the center of her chest.
“He said, ‘Sarah, he’s doing that squash thing again.'”
I gripped the chair. “Again?”
She nodded, now in tears. “He already told me, but he told me not to tell you because you had the flu.”
My knees almost gave out.
“He said moms think kids don’t know anything, but we do,” she cried. “He said he’d tell you after Mother’s Day, when the unicorn was ready.”
“And then what happened?”
“Oh, Randy.”
“I told him to drink water,” Sarah sobbed. “My dad used to say that too when my stomach hurt. Drink water and wait a minute. I didn’t know hearts were different.”
I dropped to the ground in front of her.
“Sarah, look at me.”
“It was no use.”
“No, darling. It wasn’t medicine. It was kindness. “
His face twisted into a grimace.
I let myself fall to the ground.
“Then he tried to put the unicorn away,” she whispered. “He said you couldn’t see the apology note before the gift. Then the chair scraped and he collapsed.”
I covered my mouth.
“Everyone screamed,” Sarah said. “Ms. Bell kept repeating her name too loudly. Then the paramedics arrived.”
His voice dropped further.
“I remember their boots. They were black and shiny. One of them stepped on Randy’s ball of purple yarn. I wanted to move it, but Mrs. Reeves told us to stay back.”
“Was that when you grabbed your backpack?”
“Then the paramedics arrived.”
Sarah nodded. “After they took him away. His backpack was still under the table. Randy told me to keep the unicorn until Mother’s Day, and the apology note was in there.”
“So you took it.”
“I figured if adults found it, they’d probably throw it away.”
He looked at me with terrified and loyal eyes.
“So I kept it.”
CONTINUE READING…>>
